Louisa May Alcott is My Passion
Begun in 2010, this blog offers analysis and reflection by Susan Bailey on the life, works and legacy of Louisa May Alcott and her family. Susan is an active member and supporter of the Louisa May Alcott Society, the Fruitlands Museum and Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House.
Summertime is here and I've lucked into some wonderful summer reading. I just started The Little Women Letters, the fifth novel by Gabrielle Donnelly, a British writer. The story is set in modern day London and tells the story of three sisters (Emma, Lulu and Sophie) who are direct descendants of Jo March. The middle …
Continue reading "The Little Women Letters promises to be a great summer read!"
In chapter 3 of An Old-Fashioned Girl, it's obvious that the newness of living the privileged city life has grown old for Polly: Polly soon found that she was in a new world, a world where the manners and customs were so different from the simple ways at home, that she felt like a stranger …
Continue reading "Polly finds the palace not so beautiful after all"
There's a terrific article on the Concord Patch written by a licensed Concord tour guide, Harry Beyer. He takes you on a tour of the Alcott family plot at Sleepy Hollow cemetery. Here's a teaser from the article: Louisa May was an active abolitionist, helping to shelter runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad. She was also an early …
Continue reading "Take a tour of the final resting place of the Alcotts"
Here's a great essay by Klara Stephanie Szlezák where she concludes that staging is critical to the success of an historical homestead. Kudos to Orchard House for the brilliance of its staging which so beautifully captures not just the era Louisa May Alcott lived in, but her home, her family and her classic, Little Women. …
Continue reading "What makes Orchard House such a compelling historical site?"
1. What inspired you to write a fictional account of Lidian and Waldo Emerson? It took me a long time to decide to write a nocel about Lidian and Waldo. At first, I just had a lot of questions about Lidian, especially about why she was relatively absent from so many biographies of her husband, …
Continue reading "An interview with Amy Belding Brown, author of Mr. Emerson’s Wife"
I just ordered a bunch of new books and needed to rearrange my book shelves to get everything to fit. In the midst of the rearranging, I pulled out my copy of The Alcotts Biography of a Family and discovered a promotional photo of the author, Madelon Bedell, and an interview released by the publisher’s …
Reading the last few words, I slowly closed Mr. Emerson’s Wife and felt a welling up inside of emotion. I was so tied to the character of Lidian Jackson Emerson that I felt they were her emotions too. This is how Amy Belding Brown's book hit me. I lived inside of Mr. Emerson's Wife for …
I'm not normally into celebrities but I did shed a tear today when I found out Elizabeth Taylor had passed away. She had suffered a long time from a long list of ailments but she had an incredible spirit. Definitely larger than life. It seemed appropriate today to remember her performance as Amy in the …
Beth "Little Women" (1868) Louisa May Alcott Photography by Jennifer - re enactment - January 2008 Black and white silver film, hand developed, limited to 100. "There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till …
I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful local photographer, Jennifer Bernard, who has taken her love of Louisa May Alcott and translated it into a series of beautiful black and white photographs recreating scenes from Little Women. Over the next 4 days I will present a large representation of each photo with comments from …
Continue reading "A series of photographs based on Little Women"
Louisa May Alcott is My Passion 